1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a pedal device for vehicles and, more particularly, to a pedal device for vehicles, which can reduce a load imposed on a hinge shaft when a pedal pad is pressed down, thereby improving the durability and wear resistance of parts, and improving the quality of an accelerator position sensor (APS), and which can be reduced in terms of the size of the device and the number of parts, thereby reducing the production cost and weight of the pedal device.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional organ type accelerator pedal device.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional organ type accelerator pedal device includes: a pedal housing 1 that is fixedly mounted to a body or floor panel placed below a driver's seat; a pedal pad 2 that is hinged to a pad connection part 1a of a pedal housing 1 at a first end thereof, and can be rotated in response to a pedaling action of a driver; a pedal aim 4 that is installed in an inner space 1b of the pedal housing 1 in such a way that a middle portion of the pedal arm 4 can be rotated around a rotating shaft 3 relative to the pedal housing 1, and a first end of the pedal arm 4 can come into frictional contact with the inner surface of the pedal housing 1; a carrier 5 that connects the pedal pad 2 to a second end of the pedal arm 4; and an elastic member 6 that is held by a second end of the pedal arm 4 and by the inner surface of the pedal housing 1 at opposite ends thereof, and provides an elastic restoring force to the rotating motion of the pedal arm 4.
Here, a ball 5a is provided in a first end of the carrier 5, and so the first end of the carrier 5 can be rotatably hinged to the pedal pad 2 by the ball 5a. A second end of the carrier 5 is rotatably hinged to the first end of the pedal arm 4.
However, in the conventional accelerator pedal device for vehicles having the above-mentioned construction, the rotating shaft is installed in the middle portion of the pedal arm, the elastic member is placed on the second end of the pedal arm, and the second end of the pedal arm comes into frictional contact with the inner surface of the pedal housing. Accordingly, the conventional accelerator pedal device for vehicles is problematic in that, to form an appropriate pedal effort of the pedal pad that is higher than a predetermined level, it is required to use a long pedal arm, and so the size of the pedal arm and the size of the pedal housing are increased, thereby increasing the size and weight of the pedal device.
Further, when the pedal pad of the conventional accelerator pedal device is pressed down, the end of the pedal aim comes into frictional contact with the inner surface of the pedal housing. In the above state, a load generated by the pedal pad is concentrated on the bushing that surrounds the rotating shaft, and the concentration of the load causes wear of parts of the pedal device, and reduces the durability of the parts. Further, because the hinged parts are worn due to the concentration of the load, the conventional accelerator pedal device may not produce a reliable output value of an APS.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.